--- title: 'Once Upon a Time in the Middle East Holds China’s Top Spot' type: 'blog post' section: 'Industry' format: 'Editorial feature' standfirst: 'Wen Muye’s anti-war drama beat Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey in mainland China despite Nolan’s film owning the IMAX footprint. The upset says as much about standard theaters as it does about summer taste.' author: 'CinePixo' published: '2026-08-25' updated: '2026-08-25' about_films: - 'The Odyssey (2026)' tags: - 'Once Upon a Time in the Middle East China box office' - 'Welcome to Loong Restaurant Wen Muye' - 'Shen Teng anti-war drama' - 'The Odyssey China IMAX box office' - 'China 2026 summer box office' - 'Wen Muye Dying to Survive follow-up' sources: - 'https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/movies/china-box-office-once-upon-a-time-in-the-middle-east-stays-on-top/ar-AA2aMv1q' - 'https://www.theweek.in/news/entertainment/2026/08/17/once-upon-a-time-middle-east-box-office.html' - 'https://english.cctv.com/2026/08/17/ARTIFF6O1bu8pJkkv5EbsbVo260817.shtml' - 'https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018894' canonical: 'https://cinepixo.com/blog/once-upon-a-time-in-the-middle-east-holds-chinas-top-spot' publisher: 'CinePixo' --- # Once Upon a Time in the Middle East Holds China’s Top Spot *Wen Muye’s anti-war drama beat Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey in mainland China despite Nolan’s film owning the IMAX footprint. The upset says as much about standard theaters as it does about summer taste.* By CinePixo, 2026-08-25 · Industry Once Upon a Time in the Middle East stayed ahead of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey at the mainland China box office over the August 15-17 weekend, with The Week reporting a $70.3 million frame for Wen Muye’s anti-war drama against $28.4 million for Nolan’s film. That gap matters because The Odyssey had the premium-format muscle: The Week said it controlled 90% of China’s IMAX footprint. The local film, known in Chinese as Welcome to Loong Restaurant or Welcome to Dragon Restaurant, won the week where most moviegoing still happens, in regular theaters, with a story built around a chef, a restaurant, and civilians caught in war. ## Wen Muye’s Restaurant Drama Beat Nolan’s IMAX Advantage The Week reported that Once Upon a Time in the Middle East reached $134.1 million in its first six days after its August 11, 2026 release. The Odyssey, even with previews counted, stood at $35.9 million by the end of the weekend. That is not a small local win tucked under a Hollywood headline. It is the main event. The strange part is how cleanly the split runs. Nolan’s film had the premium screens and, according to The Week, broke the record for the biggest IMAX opening weekend for a Christopher Nolan film in China. Once Upon a Time in the Middle East still took the weekend, and even pulled $2.1 million from the IMAX screens left over after The Odyssey took the lion’s share. For a film reader, that is the useful detail. The result was not about a weaker Hollywood title being denied the good rooms. The Odyssey had the rooms built for scale. Wen’s film had the broader ticket base. ## Xu Fu Turns a Kitchen Into the Film’s War Zone Sixth Tone reported that the film follows Xu Fu, played by Shen Teng, a Chinese chef who moves to Bahata, the fictional capital of an unnamed Middle Eastern country, to open Loong Restaurant and pay down family debts. The Week places the restaurant story in Baghdad, Iraq, and describes Xu as a down-on-his-luck chef from northeast China working with floor manager Ma Junsheng, played by Jiang Qiming. The reported premise is a canny one: war seen from the place people go when they are hungry, not from the room where men plan attacks. Sixth Tone said the restaurant becomes a refuge for local orphans as violence grows. The Week similarly reported that the restaurant turns into a sanctuary for civilians, orphans, and children. That is a big swing for a summer hit starring Shen, whose screen identity is tied to comedy. Sixth Tone noted that the film uses drama and dark humor, and that some criticism centered on marketing that left parents expecting a more family-friendly film than the scenes of war and violence they encountered. The tension there is real. A film can use a comedian without being a comfort object. This one appears to have sold a familiar face and then put him in a harsher register. ## Sixth Tone Reports Praise, Pushback and an Iraq War Question Sixth Tone reported that the film had an 8.4 score on Douban and had drawn praise on Chinese social media for its anti-war message. It also reported pushback from viewers who felt misled by the tone, including parents who found the war material unsuitable for children. The outlet also addressed the obvious historical shadow. Viewers have noted, Sixth Tone reported, that the backdrop resembles the Iraq War, which began in 2003. Wen rejected tying the story to one specific war. Sixth Tone quoted him saying the film is set 20 years ago but was not meant to be limited to one conflict. That answer is both useful and evasive in the old movie way. A fictional country gives a director room to talk about war as a condition rather than as a case file. It also lets the film borrow recognisable images without naming every real-world charge attached to them. The Week reported that the movie was filmed in the industrial heritage town of Shitanjing in Shizuishan, Ningxia, for its desert streetscapes. Sixth Tone reported filming in both China and Egypt, with Chinese and Egyptian actors speaking Chinese, Arabic, and English. ## China’s Summer Box Office Passed 10 Billion Yuan CGTN reported via CCTV that China’s 2026 summer box office, including pre-sales, passed 10 billion yuan, or $1.5 billion, by the afternoon of August 16, citing Beacon. In that market, Once Upon a Time in the Middle East was not just a winner but part of a larger summer surge. CGTN reported that the film took more than 800 million yuan, or $118.6 million, in ticket sales in six days. Sixth Tone, writing earlier on August 14, reported that it had already earned more than 484 million yuan, or $72 million, as of Friday, and that Beacon projected total earnings of 3.5 billion yuan. Those numbers explain why the industry is watching more than one weekend chart. CGTN reported that more than 20 film-related stocks had posted gains since the beginning of August, citing Securities Times. It also reported that China had added 363 cinemas and 2,215 screens by the end of July. More screens do not make any one film good. They do make a film like this harder to dismiss as a one-city or one-format phenomenon. ## A Summer Hit Built on Food, Debt and Shelter The most interesting thing in the reporting is not that a Chinese film beat a Hollywood film. That happens. The sharper point is that this particular film did it with a premise built around cooking under pressure. Sixth Tone reported that Wen said the idea came from thinking about the suffering of children in wartime and from reports about Chinese migrants opening restaurants overseas. The Week reported that the film mixes Chinese cooking techniques with Middle Eastern ingredients. That combination could have turned sugary fast. The reported response suggests many viewers found something tougher: a movie where the act of feeding people becomes the action. No cape, no battlefield command, no clean victory pose. Just a restaurant owner trying to keep children alive long enough for the next meal. The Odyssey may have owned the giant screen. Once Upon a Time in the Middle East owned the ordinary one, where a bowl of food can look bigger than an army. ## How this piece was made **Format:** Editorial feature ## In this piece - 2026 · [The Odyssey](https://cinepixo.com/movies/the-odyssey-2026) ## Sources - https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/movies/china-box-office-once-upon-a-time-in-the-middle-east-stays-on-top/ar-AA2aMv1q - https://www.theweek.in/news/entertainment/2026/08/17/once-upon-a-time-middle-east-box-office.html - https://english.cctv.com/2026/08/17/ARTIFF6O1bu8pJkkv5EbsbVo260817.shtml - https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1018894 Every factual claim above is drawn from these. The reading of them is ours. Source: https://cinepixo.com/blog/once-upon-a-time-in-the-middle-east-holds-chinas-top-spot Written for CinePixo. Nothing on this page is imported prose.